This blog is dedicated to technologies, solutions and ideas that Make Wi-Fi Smarter. UMA/GAN, the 3GPP standard for providing for secure, scalable access to mobile voice, data and IMS services over IP, is being utilized with Wi-Fi to help operators grow their market positions.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

At T-Mobile's investor relations day in New York, new CEO Philip Humm, CTO Neville Ray and CMO Cole Brodman made this presentation. While there are many fascinating facts, for those of us at the Smart Wi-Fi blog, we were drawn to slide 54. Given the (moderate) controversy about T-Mobile and femtocells this week, I think we know one thing for sure:

T-Mobile is the Wi-Fi Calling Carrier!

Or said another way, it's unlikely that T-Mobile will drop Wi-Fi Calling in favor of femtocells. They may choose to add femtocells to their coverage portfolio, but one might want to ask why?

As one might expect, the post was light on details - there was no timeframe and no vendors because T-Mobile was 'still in the process of selecting them.'

Then today, Kevin Fitchard at Connected Planet posted that "T-Mobile USA has no plans to offer a femtocell and will continue to focus on its dual-mode Wi-Fi fixed mobile convergence strategy," adding "at least that's what we're hearing from T-Mobile."

I think the answer is clear: a definite maybe.

It's a blog, so let's speculate: Why T-Mobile would want to offer a femtocell:
Everyone else is. ATT, VZW, Sprint all have a femtocell, they don't want to be left out. Undoubtedly there are T-Mobile customers who would be willing to pay for a femtocell to get better coverage at home.

Let's do some math. Between the three largest carriers in the US, servicing some 230,000,000 subscribers, they have managed to sell (or give away) 350,000 femtocells - or about 0.1%. No wonder 2010 was the 'year of the femtocell', or was it 2009, or 2008..., or maybe it will be 2011.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile seems to be rocking the Smart Wi-Fi. It's part of their hottest selling '4G' phones the MyTouch 4G and Google G2. Plus with Wi-Fi installed in an estimated 50,000,000 homes in the US, Smart Wi-Fi has a HUGE head start when it comes to installed base.

Subscribe via email

About me

I’m Steve Shaw with Kineto Wireless, the key innovator and leading supplier of solutions that enable smart offload for smartphones. Our technologies make Wi-Fi smarter so mobile operators can lower costs and improve performance of mobile services.